FANZINE

from Fancyclopedia 2

(Chauvenet) An amateur magazine published by and for fans. Aside from this practically nothing can be predicated of the "typical" fanzine except its size (quarto) and means of reproduction (mimeo). Much of fandom's energy is expended on these fanzines, which range in quality from the incredibly excellent to the abysmally illiterate. Some species of genus fanzine may best be described here:

Generalzines are fanzines with numerous contributors and a wide range of subjects appearing in any one issue. They may be of subclasses APAzine, Subzine, or OO: namely, published for circulation in an APA, to a subscription list, or as the Official Organ of some organization. [OOs in principle go to all members of an organization; they may or may not have outside circulation.]

Individzines, on the other hand, are written practically entirely by one individual, the editor-publisher. There were one-man fanzines at least as far back as 1936, when Dollens launched the SF Collector, but this type is really a product of the APAs and comprises most of the contents of any bundle. Two subtypes are distinguished by Speer: alpha has the outward appearance of a subzine, with separate articles on unrelated subjects, departments, fillers, cover illos, ktp. Subtype beta is very much like a conversational monolog, in which the editor moves along from one subject to another as he is reminded of it, with no attempt at formal or objective, timeless style. Letter substitutes are the end product of this.

The first fanzines were club organs, published mainly for members and a few non-locals who might be interested. The first important fanzine was The Time Traveller (1932) which was absorbed by Science Fiction Digest and the combined mag shortly re-named Fantasy Magazine. Subscription fanzines blossomed thereafter at a quickening rate; in 1937 came the newsie and around 1940 the individzine.

Originally the names of fanzines were simply descriptive: The International Observer [ISA], The Science Fiction Fan, Fantasy-News, etc. Gradually the stock of such names ran low, and titles were taken from anything pertaining to fantasy to feed the insatiable publishing mania of stfans: Le Zombie, Skyhook, 2000 AD, usw. Eventually even apparent reference to fantasy was lost in such titles as Wild Hair, Grue, Archive, and Garage Floor. However, these three stages overlap, and new pubs still appear with explicit titles. Many also have pet names.

The longest run enjoyed by any fanzine is that of Taurasi's Fantasy/Science Fiction Times, currently working on its third hundred; first to appear was RAPalmer's The Comet (May 1930); most ornate was Bill Rotsler's Masque, "The Gaudy Fanzine", which had artwork of every possible type except statuary (indeed, there were some photos of that). Largest was EYE #3 with 185 pages; most reliable, perhaps, was Lee Hoffman's SF Five-Yearly, which really did appear at the stated intervals; most cosmopolitan in point of production was the wartime Fantast's Folly, run in the US from German-made stencils captured in France and cut in Austria.

As to announced periodicity, there have been: one hourly fanzine, several dailies (all these continuous for short periods only), weeklies, biweeklies, and triweeklies, monthlies, bimonthlies, quarterlies, annuals, one (Wild Hair) biseptimensual, the abovementioned five-yearly, and of course one-shots and frankly irregular items. Unfortunately, most of the others are irregular too, generally appearing much less often than their announced frequency, and suffering such a high mortality rate that the mag that reaches an annish is a real achievement. (Forbye, when subzines fold it isn't considered sporting to return your money; Harry Warner and AL Joquel are the only stfnists known to have done so.)

Fan magazines are the great vehicle of thought in our republic of letters, and our most characteristic product.